The Louisiana Democrat., 1887-04-13
ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON.

hiehboiy VI dioeit Oyuuey OonbStOl
by New Orleans and the South was il
every sense a memorable event. Th
handsome monument to the devoted
hero of the Confederacy, unveiled OF
the twenty-fifth anniversary of hi
death, will stand as long as the cit,
stands, a visible sign that while al
bitterness of sectional feeling has dis
appeared from Southern hearts, The
lapse of time has been unable to efface
the gratitude and admiration of the
people for one who fell fighting fore.
most in their cause. Though the South
is now as firmly attached to the great
Union as is the North, the people OF
this section will never cease to rever-
ence the names of the gallant men
who, moved by patriotic conviction,
threw in their lot with that of their
own State in rbe terrible game of war.
And Of these no name is more worthy
of reverential admiration than that of
Albert Sidney Johnston.
Johnston, like Lee, beheld the out.
break of the internecine struggle with
a regret almost amounting to horror.
Like the great Virgiuian, he felt that
it was impossible for him to serve
against bis own people; and, not
withstanding that all his professional
interests tended to hold him in the
service of the United States, he re-
signed his army commission, and with
it the splendid prospects of distinction
that were opening before him. Like
Lee, again, he hoped at the first that
he might be allowed to remain neu-
trail in the contest. But again the SOL
dier's instinct was too strong for the
citizens resolve. 1t was impossible,
indeed, for man Of military training,
of powerful talents and a natural ge-
Mus for war, to rest an inactive spec.
tator of the tremendous struggle in
which all the manhood of the nation
was to engage. And so, firm in his
resolve to have no haud or part in the
work of forcing the will of one section
of the country upon the other, there
remained for him only to throw bis
sword into the scale on the side of the
South.
Of just what weight that sword
would have been in turning the bal
'nce of war, it is impossible to know.
But it is certain that it would have
'een a most potent factor. In his
irst battle, with victory almost in
light, Sidney Johnston fell and an
of the conditions of the
ombatants in that battle leads to the
'elief that his death, early in the war
S that event took place, had a deci-
ed influence on the final result.
No battle of the war has given rise
so much controversial writing as the
attle of Shiloh. But perusal of the
arious accounts of the struggle leave
pcn the mind, as unshakable convic-
ions, first that Grants army was COM
letely surprised; second, that it
'ould have been eventually defeated
nd either captured or annihilated but
u BuelPs arrival; third, that the
cath OF Johnston, and the conse-
uent pause in the attack of the Con-
'derates, gave the Federal comman-
ers time to organize the resistance at
ittsburg Landing Which enabled
lem to hold their ground until night
III. The arrival and crossing of
ucl!s troops during the night gave
'e Federals such a preponderance of
rec that they were able to assume
le offensive on the 7th.
The disorder which followed the
ii of Johnston thus saved Grant and
herman from destruction. Had John
on lived the close of day would un-
lestionably have seen the Confede-
tie flag flying over Pittsburg Land
g. Now, it is certain that the two
en- to whom the eventual destruction
the Confederacy was mainly due
ere Grant and Sherman. But it was
1t till long aftel Shiloh that the tai
It of these two men for war was rec
,nized by the Federal authorities.
ad they been defeated at Shiloh no. I
ing more would have been heard of
rant and Sherman, except as belong
g to the same category of unsuccess-
commanders as Burnside and Pope.
ad Sidney Johnston lived, and had
8 military careers of Sherman and
ant terminated at Shiloh, who can